Oct. 21, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana University volleyball team is set play a pair of road matches this weekend, flying east for showdowns with No. 1 Penn State (20-0, 8-0) and Ohio State (15-6, 3-5). Indiana's Friday night match versus the two-time defending champion Nittany Lians is being broadcast LIVE on ESPNU. It will then be re-aired on tape delay, Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN2.

Beth Mowins (play-by-play) and Karch Kiraly (analyst) will provide the commentary.

Indiana will also head to Columbus, Ohio for a Saturday night meeting with the Buckeyes at 7 p.m. The Hoosiers have won the last two meetings with OSU, sweeping the season series a year ago.

As with all IU Volleyball matches this season, fans can also follow along online via live audio broadcast provided by IUHoosiers.com, free of charge. Dave Leno will handle the play-by-play duties for this weekend's action.

Complete Match Notes

ACE ASSASSIN
Freshman Laura Matula has found her groove at the service line as of late. The defensive specialist from Munster, Ind., was a marksman from the stripe this past weekend. Matula began the weekend with four aces in a three-set sweep over Iowa, flashing her skills to a crowd of nearly 6,000 fans in attendance during the Hoosier Hysteria festivities. She then followed that up two days later with four more aces versus Wisconsin. Matula has now recorded two or more aces in three consecutive matches and propelled herself into the Big Ten's top-10 for service aces per set.

INSTANT IMPACT
Indiana's Jordan Haverly was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week by the conference office on Monday. It marks the second such weekly accolade for Haverly through the first six weeks of her career. The Cherry Valley, Ill., native won the same distinction for the week of Sept. 14.

Haverly averaged 3.90 kills and 2.25 digs per set last week. She shined brightly on the national stage, putting down 19 kills while hitting .395 in IU's 3-2 win at Purdue which was broadcast on the Big Ten Network. With 10 digs against the Boilermakers as well, Haverly recorded her fifth double-double of the season.

BENSON BREAKING RECORDS
Junior Ashley Benson may go down as the greatest Indiana University volleyball player EVER. She has already begun her inevitable onslaught of the IU record books. Benson's career hitting efficiency of .311 is 21 percentage points higher than any other Hoosier. She also owns the top single-season blocks record, a feat she accomplished in just her second season at IU; and is on pace to break once again this year. Her current hitting percentage of .376 would shatter the previous season mark in that category.

Additionally, Benson is just 94 kills and two blocks shy of becoming just the fifth player in IU history to record 1,000 career kills and 400 digs. Did I mention she is only a junior? Benson is on pace to own the career records for hitting percentage, kills and total blocks by the time she hangs up her Cream and Crimson jersey.

ADDITIONAL RECORD SEEKERS
Several other Hoosiers are also closing in on scripting their names into the IU record books. Caitlin Cox has dug 314 balls on the year entering this weekend. The all-time season mark was set by her former teammate Juli Pierce (481). Mary Chaudoin has already cracked the top-10 in career assists with 1,281, slotting her ninth all-time. Taylor Wittmer may be joining her soon, needing only 44 more blocks to place herself in the top-10 of that all-time career category.

HOOSIER HYSTERIA
IU Volleyball put a charge into this year's Hoosier Hysteria festivities, jump-starting the evening with a 3-0 sweep (25-23, 25-14, 25-18) over the Iowa Hawkeyes (10-9, 2-5 Big Ten)

Ashley Benson paced the Hoosiers with 10 kills and four blocks while hitting at a .409 clip (10-1-22). Jordan Haverly and Kelci Marschall weren't far behind in the kills column with nine put-aways each. In the defensive backcourt, three different Hoosiers dug 10 or more balls. Caitlin Cox, donning a pink libero jersey in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, led the way with 14 digs.